Egypt, S.Arabia step up trade ties through coordination council talks    Egypt reviews progress on $200m World Bank-funded waste management hub    Egypt urges Israel to accept Gaza deal amid intensifying fighting    SCZONE showcases investment opportunities to eight Japanese companies    Egypt, ADIB explore strategic partnership in digital healthcare, investment    SCZONE, Tokyo Metropolitan Government sign MoU on green hydrogen cooperation    Egypt welcomes international efforts for peace in Ukraine    Al-Sisi, Macron reaffirm strategic partnership, coordinate on Gaza crisis    Contact Reports Strong 1H-2025 on Financing, Insurance Gains    Egypt, India's BDR Group in talks to establish biologics, cancer drug facility    AUC graduates first cohort of film industry business certificate    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



A country hobbled by a zero-defect political culture
Published in Daily News Egypt on 05 - 06 - 2007

Technology is about taking risks. Government bureaucracy is about avoiding mistakes. The mismatch between the two is creating a funding squeeze that could undermine America's dominance of the new technologies that will be crucial to the nation's security in the 21st century. That was the disturbing consensus among a group of the nation's top scientists who gathered in Phoenix last week to discuss the converging technologies - biology, information technology, nanotechnology, robotics - that are transforming the life sciences. The conference, with the dizzying title 'Converging, Combining, Emerging,' was sponsored by the Highlands Forum, a Pentagon-funded group that brings together Defense officials, scientists and analysts for regular discussions. Top Department of Defense officials proposed this gathering to give policymakers a better feel for cutting-edge technologies. The baseline was a warning last summer by the prestigious Defense Science Board that 'DOD must keep abreast of the most rapidly changing and emerging technologies' and that DOD 'lags behind' in biology. The discussions here highlighted the technological convergence - but also that government agencies aren't keeping pace. That's true even of the Pentagon's celebrated high-tech agency Darpa, which a generation ago supported the basic science that created the Internet. The Pentagon's new chief technology officer, John Young, who has oversight of Darpa, recognized the need for the agency to better balance long-term science with short-term tasks such as countering improvised explosive devices in Iraq. He also worries about a procurement process in which as much as 40 percent of the military services' science and technology funding is devoted to congressional pet projects known as 'earmarks.' 'For many years, American science was in a perpetual state of becoming, but I would argue that we have lost our way,' said Jim Heath, a professor of chemistry at Caltech who described for the group his astonishing work to shrink computer chips down to the size of blood cells. His work was funded a decade ago by Darpa, but several scientists here doubt the Pentagon agency would back such a blue-sky project today. 'If you have a high-risk, high-yield idea, the best place to execute it is offshore,' Heath said. Darpa once liked to boast that it funded impossible problems and wasn't interested in the merely difficult. But in recent years, argued the scientists, Darpa has become nearly as cautious and prone to micromanagement as the government's science behemoth, the National Institutes of Heath. Before making most of its grants, NIH demands such detailed evidence of success that 'they are funding the past, not the future,' one scientist complained. 'Darpa seems to be shifting to the NIH model - more near-term, more risk-averse,' said Don Ingber, a professor of pathology at Harvard. He just launched a new Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering, which is seeking to apply nature's own designs and control systems to new microdevices that can repair tissue or reverse disease. His young colleague, Robert Wood, explained how he has created a tiny robotic fly, no bigger than a fingernail, which could carry surveillance sensors invisibly into remote areas. One of the most impressive presentations was given by Ted Berger, a professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience at the University of Southern California. He described his work to build neural implants that could allow the brain to overcome the ravages of a stroke. Already, he has shown that his chips can process signals from a slice of rat brain. Soon, Berger hopes to implant a chip into a damaged section of a rat's hippocampus, the part of its brain that processes short-term memories into long-term ones. Berger explained the secret of such revolutionary science is that 'you have to be prepared to jump off the cliff.' That's a concept of risk-taking not often heard in the federal government. The conference was co-hosted by the Biodesign Institute, a new project at Arizona State University that seeks to break down the normal walls between biology, IT, robotics and other disciplines. In one lab, scientists are studying how to use bacteria to create biofuels by, in effect, harvesting sunlight. In another, they are building biological structures that assemble themselves into precise grids that could be used as diagnostic tools within the body. It's the kind of breakthrough research that America desperately needs. But the institute's charismatic director, George Poste, fears that back in Washington, 'risk aversion is everywhere.' Spending a few days with brilliant scientists like these, it's hard not to get excited about the possibilities for life-changing advances in technology. But listening to their tales of dealing with the government, you sense an America that is enfeebled by congressional meddling and overly cautious decisions by federal bureaucrats. Scientists proceed by trial-and-error experimentation. What's hobbling the country is a zero-defect political culture that makes even these bold men and women worry that America is losing its edge.
Syndicated columnistDavid Ignatius is published regularly by THE DAILY STAR.

Clic here to read the story from its source.